Why Can't We Get Some Quality College Basketball On Friday Nights?

By michaelcronin

Mark Dolejs-USA TODAY Sports

This has been one of my biggest pet peeves come conference season ever since I can remember. Each year, until the conference tournaments, we get trash basketball on Friday nights and it kills momentum the sport gets from an awesome Thursday of action.

College basketball is a sport that is going through a bit of a rough patch this year with bad offense and a lot of bad teams. One of the ways we can help remedy that perception is by continuing to flood the market with quality match ups. What I’d do is make Fridays another version of the wildly successful “Big Monday”.

The Big East and ESPN created “Big Monday” which has given us a ton of marquee match ups to enjoy. That evolved to included the Big 12 as it stands today. Of course, with the destruction of the current Big East, the future of “Big Monday” is in question. Why can’t we re-brand it and add a “Phenomenal Friday” at the same time?

If I was a TV exec, I’d throw a Big 12, Pac 12 doubleheader on Fridays. You would schedule the opposing teams based on their one open week in conference season so they wouldn’t be forced to play multiple games in a short amount of time.

Frankly, I’ve always found that an excuse anyways given the aforementioned conference tournaments and eventually the NCAA Tournament when you are playing games so close to one another. Nevertheless, it also gives the players, coaches and universities their time “in the spotlight”. No one else is playing big time games during your time slot.

Oh and for the future of “Big Monday”, how about giving some love to the best conferences in college basketball? A Big Ten, ACC pair would be like peanut butter and jelly together. Thanks to their layout in the eastern and central time zones either one could host the early game and flip it to the other depending on the week.